Vantage Point

Basically, take In The Line Of Fire. Add Groundhog Day.

US President is making a speech in Spain. He's assassinated. A bomb goes off.
Cue investigation.

We see this from a range of viewpoints, all of which show us a little more of
what happened, from a different angle, which finally builds into the big reveal
of what *really* happened.

It's not bad, but I wouldn't go further than that. Its major flaw is that the
plot, once revealed, isn't actually that good. The first few viewpoints are
really well done, and leave you wanting more answers, but inevitably, those
answers come, and they're silly. Eventually, the viewpoint structure sort of
breaks down towards the end, and we're in carchase and climactic faceoff with
guns kind of territory.

Ultimately, the structure's quite interesting, and make the film worth watching
- told linearly, this wouldn't be worth anyone's time. I'd give it 7/10, but
it's really a pretty average thriller overall.

Juno

Now, this was a lovely film. Basic synopsis: Teen Girl gets pregnant, decides
to keep it and put it up for adoption, and we go from there. It's a comedy
drama in the best sense of the term. In that it's a drama, funny things happen,
and the characters are well written and witty. Lots of "it's funny because its
true" stuff.

If the film has flaws, and I don't see why it has to have, but if it does, it's
these: First, everyone in it is about 200% wittier than their real life
counterpart. This makes it entertaining to watch, but somewhat unbelievable.
Second, there's not that much dramatic tension here. Will her parents hit the
roof? No, they're really lovely and supportive. Will she get a hard time at
school about it? No, not really. I genuinely spent one section of the film
dreading the arrival of some hideous and horrific occurrence, because everything
was going so well, and my inner dramatist started anticipating that the
dramatic twist was round the corner. And it wasn't, really.

So, it's gentle, it's funny, there's no nasty surprises, Essentially, an
eminently enjoyable film. Just don't expect to be on the edge of your seat at
any point. Unless like me you have a tendency to slouch.

The Bank Job

Of all the films I've seen this year, this was certainly among them.

Plot: An underworld miscreant has some naughty photos of one of the royals,
presumably Princess Anne. These would be very embarassing, and he's using them
as blackmail material in order to get out of jail free. MI5 would quite like
them back, so they recruit some amateurs to rob the bank the photos are being
held in. Which they do.

Said robbers having got away with the photos and a few equally hot pieces of
blackmail material, and everyone involved basically knowing all about it, they
are then trapped in a dangerous situation of several serious and ruthless
people willing to kill them all to get their hands on it.

It runs along quite entertainingly, without really making any great claims to
being great cinema, which is good, because it's not. It's the kind of thing
that if you found yourself at a loose end you could watch and be entertained,
but needn't feel you missed out on anything.

Most amusing is a scene near the end where Jason Statham apparentlysuddenly
realises "Hang on, why am I putting up with this crap? I'm The Transporter!"
and kicks the shit out of a bunch of guys, having apparently been a mild-
mannered car mechanic and amateur villain up until that point.

7/10. Amusing and fun, but not *that* amusing or fun.

Semi Pro

Stop me if you've heard this one before.

An amateur basketball team is in a league that's being merged into the NBA.
Best four teams get added to the NBA, the rest are dissolved. This particular
team are a gang of idiots and wasters led by Will Ferrell. They want to survive
as a team, and set their sights on fourth place.

So, it's a Will Ferrell Underdog Sports Movie. If I were to say to you "Will
Ferrell Underdog Sports Movie" then what immediately springs to mind will
probably be pretty much exactly it. Is it any good? Well, it's not bad. It's
pretty broad comedy, not a lot of subtlety in the same way as the moon's not
got a lot of oxygen. Within those bounds, I laughed often, and occasionally I
laughed pretty hard.

My advice is this: Go see Dodgeball, because that's a very good underdog sports
movie spoof. Then, go and see Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,
which is a funnier Will Ferrell Sport Comedy. If you enjoyed both, then next
time you're in the mood for more of the same, see Semi-Pro. If either film
struck you as too dumb to be bothered with, Semi-Pro certainly is. If you've
already seen them, you already knew what Semi-Pro is going to be like, before
I started writing.

7/10. Delivered what it promised, no more, no less.